December 14, 2011
2011/2012 Team Preview: |
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Senior guard J.J. Pineda is one of four returning starters for Weehawken this year. (Photo: Jason Bernstein) |
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By Jason Bernstein Editorial Director |
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Weehawken has experienced plenty of growing pains the past few seasons. A talented, yet inconsistent group showed flashes of success in an 11-16 campaign. Now a year older and wiser, the Indians and head coach Jake McNish believe the time is now for them to make its move up the standings.
"The expectations are raised a little bit, we had a good summer," McNish said. "I have a couple kids who are up from JV that should help us out a lot and I have a mainstay of four seniors. We're hoping to be a lot more competitive in the league this year."
That quartet of experienced seniors are a big cause for the optimism. Senior center Roberto Moran (11.3 points, 12.1 rebounds per game) is one of the NJIC's top big men and a double-double threat every time he steps on the floor. J.J. Pineda and Kenny Minier are returning starters at shooting guard and power forward respectively. Humberto Leigue has bounced back from a rough junior season and is poised to have a huge year as a spark off the bench.
"He's been coming off the bench and giving us a real jump-start in the preseason," said McNish about Leigue, who scored 16 points per game as a sophomore. "He likes coming off the bench and I'm going to keep him there since he's a real good kid to have and a nice player to have coming off the bench."
In addition to that "core four" the Indians have a three-year starter at point guard in Damian Corredor. The junior was Weehawken's leading scorer with 12.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.5 steals per game.
"He's a great defensive player, he's very quick and he's very unselfish on offense," said McNish, calling Corredor a coach on the floor. "He gives the ball up, sometimes to a fault. He's one of our best rebounders too. The kid does everything for us."
The player who has impressed the most early on for McNish has been junior Derek Strandberg. The 6-foot-3 small forward has made a rapid ascension from JV player to becoming the Indians' go-to scorer in the preseason.
"He's worked really hard in the offseason, the kid's developed," McNish said. "He could always shoot a jump shot, but now he's able to put the ball on the deck and take it to the hole. He's added another dimension to his game and it's really helped us out."
Juniors Dante Cieri, Steven Rodriguez and Raphael Totesault provide an added punch off the bench for Weehawken.
With a rotation that goes nine players deep, McNish considers this his deepest squad since Weehawken won a league title in 2003.
"I've been here 20 years and it's been a while," McNish said. "We had a lot of depth on that team. It's been about eight years since we had the team (with this depth)."
2011-12 Weehawken |
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